Laws of the People's Republic of China

The General Customs Administration

Announcement of the General Administration of Customs on Amending Article 2 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for Supervision over Goods Transferred Between Customs

[2002] No.7

April 17, 2002

Pursuant to the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for Supervision over Goods Transferred Between Customs (hereinafter referred to as the Supervision Measures), imports and exports transferred between customs should bear the seal of the customs. After the nationwide introduction of the fast customs clearance system for transfer between customs, goods transferred between customs by various means and transit goods shall all bear the customs seal in going through relevant transfer procedures. Taking into consideration the strict time requirement for the departure of shipping vehicles and the low transport risk of goods transference or transit by inland feeder vessels or by train, all customs bureaus have provided facilitation and streamlined procedures to various degrees. In order to ensure a uniformed law enforcement and to improve the efficiency of customs clearance by streamlining all the procedures that can be streamlined without adversely affecting the supervision efficiency, it has been decided after careful study that the seal requirement on cargo transfer or transit in container between customs by inland feeder vessels or by train shall be relaxed. Article 2 of the Supervision Measures is amended as follows:

I.

The customs seal is not required under the condition that the commercial seal remains intact for containerized cargo transfer or transit by inland feeder vessels or by train.

II.

In order to ensure efficient supervision, the customs shall handle cargo transfer between customs with no customs seal requirement according to the following instructions:

1.

The number of the commercial seal shall be entered into the transfer declaration from under the item of "customs locking number."

2.

The entry customs and the shipment customs shall, based on the manifest and the bill of railway freight, decide upon a certain proportion and sample the cargo accordingly to see whether the commercial seals remain intact. The destination customs and the departure customs shall check the commercial seal with the computerized transfer declaration and the manifest or the bill of railway freight, and then handle relevant customs procedures accordingly.

3.

The Supervision Measures remains valid except for conditions specified hereinabove.

III.

For cargos transferred between customs that have been unsealed for checking or reshipped in other containers, the customs seal is required, according to relevant stipulations, for going through relevant procedures for customs transfer.

The Announcement will enter into force as of April 25, 2002.

This is hereby notified.